Friday, March 05, 2010

Mass strikes with only hours prior warning are unfolding in greece afterthe government announced new crippling measures for workers

The government's announcements of the new austerity measures dictated bythe EU have rendered the greek PM's talk of a "state of war" concrete. Thenew measures include a 30% cut in public workers' 13th and 14th salary, aswell as 12% cut in all salary subsidies, which in reality amounts to a sumof more than 1/12 of the total annual salary. In addition the governmenthas announced new taxes for alcohol and cigarettes, as well as a universalVAT of 21% that is considered crippling by shop-owners and smallfree-lance enterpeneurs. Not one measure is however targeted towards theconstruction-banking-press-shipping trusts that plague the country.

The reaction to the measures has been immediate and acute:

Just hours after the announcement of the new measures, layed-off workersof Olympic Airways attacked riot police lines guarding the State GeneralAccountancy and have occupied the building, in what they call a open-endedoccupation. The action has led to the closing of Athens' main commercialstreet, Panepistimiou, for long hours.

On Thursday morning, workers under the Communist Party union umbrella PAMEoccupied the Ministry of Finance on Syntagma square (which remains underoccupation) as well as the county headquarters of the city of Trikala.Later, PAME also occupied 4 TV station in the city in Patras, and thestate TV station of Salonica, forcing the news broadcasters to play a DVDagainst government measures.

On Thursday afternoon, two protest marches took to the streets of Athens.The first, called by PAME, and the second by OLME, the teachers union andsupported by ADEDY. The latter gathered around 10,000 people despite lessthan 24h notice, and during its course limited clashes developed with theriot police which was pilled with rocks outside the EU Commissionbuilding. Also two protest marches took to the streets of Salonica at thesame time.A protest march was also realised in the city of Lamia.

Finally, the party offices of PASOK in the town of Arta were smashed bywhat it is beliaved to be people enraged by the measures

For Friday:

ADEDY and GSEE (public and private sector union umbrellas) have declared a4h stoppage of work across the country for tomorrow and a central demooutside the Parliament at noon. The two giant unions are hinting at ageneral strike for the 11th of March.

PAME has declared a 24h strike in all sectors for Friday.

All buses, trolleys, the metro, intercity trains, and trams as well asmost flights of Aegean and Olympic Airways apart from a few securityflights been be halted, as workers in means of mass transport have calleda 24h strike. The strike will immobilise the country.

All schools will remain closed, as teachers have called a 24h strike.

All public TV and radio, as well as the Athens News Agency, all municipalradio stations and the Ministry of Press have declared a 24h strike and ademo in front of the Journalist Union building in Athens.

All hospitals across the country will be serving only immergency cases, asdoctors have declared a 24h strike.

No garbage will be collected on Friday, as refuse collectors have declareda 24h strike, while they have also announced another strike and a protestmarch for March the 10th.

Pensioners will be performing a protest march in Salonica on Friday morning.

Students are holding assemblies in their schools to decide theirparticipation in the struggle, with many schools already having decided tomove to occupation and participate in the marches.

It is indicative of the climate of public rage that even cops haveannounced a demo outside the Athens Police Hq for the 11th of March.

Tax officers have also announced a 2day strike starting on Monday, whileschool traffic wardens in Northern Greece have announced a 3-day longstrike starting on Monday.

The people's reaction to the austerity measures are expected to furtherexplode as the EU Commission is pressuring for the implementation ofsimilar measures for the private sector. It is believed that such a movecould bring the country on the brink of social insurrection.

Long battles erupt in Athens protest marchSubmitted by taxikipali on Mar 5 2010

Long battles erupted today at the Athens protest march against themeasures. The GSEE union boss was heavily beaten by protesters whilebattles with the cops developed for 3 hours all across the centre of thecity after riot police attacked anti-Nazi resistance symbol Manolis Glezos

The demo called by ADEDY, the public sector umbrella union, and GSEE, theprivate sector umbrella union, started gathering at 12:30 in Syntagmasquare, after another 10,000 strong demo by Communist Party umbrellaunion, PAME had ended its own demo and marched to Omonoia square. Soonaround 10,000 people gathered in Syntagma, a large number consideringthere is only a 4 hour stoppage and not a strike today.

All was quiet until the GSEE union boss Mr Panagopoulos took themicrophone to address the protest. Before managing to utter more than fivewords, the hated union boss was attacked by all kinds of protestors whofirst heckled him and threw bottles of water and yogurt on his face andthen attacked him physically like a giant swarm. With bruises, cuts andhis clothes torn, the PASOK lackey struggled his way towards police lines,as the people attacked again and again. Finally he managed to hide behindthe Presidential Guard and up the steps of the Parliament where the hatedausterity measures were being voted. The crowd below encouraged him to gowhere he belongs, to the lair of thieves, murderers and liars.

What the bourgeois media call the "lynching" of the union supreme bossbecame a prime subject of infight within the parliament with thegovernment accusing the Radical Left Coalition that the attackersoriginated from its block (GSEE itself blaming KOE, a Maoist group of theCoalition), a half-truth at best. The Communist Party has refused tocondemn the attack, only noting it disagrees with it. This is the firsttime such a high ranking union boss is attacked at a rally that its unionhas called, and the act is widely believed to mark a new era in unionhistory in greece. The initial phase of the attack against the union bosscan be seen here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJW33W9t0bw&feature=player_embedded

Soon after the beating of Panagopoulos, small skirmishes started betweenprotesters and riot police forces in the form of body-to-body battles infront of the Parliament. During one of these incidents, riot cops attackedManolis Glezos, the heroic anti-nazi resistance fighter who had loweredthe nazi flag from the Acropolis during the german occupation. The elderlyman was trying to help a man from being arrested at them time and had tobe removed from the battle scene in an ambulance as tear gas fireddirectly on his face caused him serious pneumonic problems and he remainsin serious condition in hospital (for a video of the attack seehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FX3S3I7Nos&feature=player_embedded).

The attack on Glezos gave the signal for a general attack of thousands ofpeople against the cops, many of who were wounded during the battles whichincluded rocks, sticks but no molotov cocktails. During the clashes 5people were arrested, 2 of who are accused under the anti-hood law, whilethe rest with small non-criminal breaches of the law. During the clashesmany riot shields and helmets were taken from the cops and burned alongwith other flaming barricades on the streets. 7 cops are reported by thepolice as heavily wounded, some with knee-cap and other bone breaks.

Due to extended use of tear gas at around 14:00 the atmosphere in Syntagmasquare was so unbearable that among chanting "the cops are not thechildren of the workers, they are the dogs of the bosses", the demo turnedinto a protest march with the direction of the Ministry of Labour, half akm south of Omonoia square. At reaching Propylea more clashes with thepolice took place, while a sole high-ranking cop was isolated and beatenby the crowd. Further down on the way to Omonoia, protesters attacked ariot police squad that was guarding the National Legal Council. The riotpolice squad was cornered and attacked by means of sticks rocks andflares, before being forced to retreat inside the building after one ofits members was captured by protesters and repeatedly trampled by theangered crowd.

The march then continued to Omonoia and from there down Peireaos streetwhere banks, economic targets and expensive cars came under attack, beforethe march reached the Ministry and the protesters tried to break itscentral doors. More clashes with the police ensued and the march turnedback to front and decided to march once again to the Parliament. On theway, cops came once again under attack by protesters with many riotpolicemen wounded and retaliating by means of tear gas. After reaching theParliament, the march refused to desolve and took once again to the streetin a bravado of resolve, until it reached Propylea where it came to anend. After the end of the march 6 more people were detained while takingrefuge to the Social Security Headquarters, but have been released withoutany charges against them.

In Salonica, upon reaching the gates of the Ministry of Thrace andMacedonia protesters pulled down the heavy iron fences of the Ministry andmoved into its front yard where they were confronted by riot police whomade use of tear gas amongst flaming barricades.

Finally, the workers of the National Printing Units have occupied thepremises and refuse to print the legislation imposing the austeritymeasures. Unless the legislation is printed there, it is not legallyvalid. Meanwhile the occupation of the State General Accountancy bylayed-off Olympic Airways workers continues. The workers have alsopermanently closed off Panepistimiou street (the equivalent of Oxfordstreet in London), at the heigh of the building, with all traffic divertedby side-roads.